Apparatus for packing and wrapping



April 1, 1969 E. N. 'cioLEs I APPARATUS FOR PACKING AND WRAPPING I FiledOct. 7. 1965 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Sheet 4 0:2

K135i!" "1', 1969 E. N. coLEs 3,435,585

APPARATUS FOR PACKING AND WRAPPiNG 7 Filed Oct. 7, 1965 I Sheet 2 of 2 5INVENTOR 6A1: Nam-w Cues ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,435,585APPARATUS FOR PACKING AND WRAPPING Eric Neville Coies, London, England,assignor to Wix of London Limited, London, England, a limited company ofthe United Kingdom Filed Oct. 7, 1965, Ser. No. 493,825 Claims priority,application Great Britain, Oct. 9, 1964, 41,326/ 64 Int. Cl. B651161/18, 11/28, 49/14 U.S. Cl. 53-133 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA wrapping apparatus includes an intermittently rotated drum havingarticle receiving recesses movable with the drum between feed anddischarge positions, and transversely positioned suction ports locatedbetween the recesses. A wrapper Web is releasably engaged by the suctionports which pulls the web about the drum. At the feed station a pusheradvances an article into a recess which is then advanced and covered bythe web and stopped at the discharge position and an ejector memberpushes the article out of the recess and pulls the web with it, a cutterslitting the web along a line trailing the recess.

This invention relates to a method of, and apparatus for, packing orwrapping articles in which a continuous strip of material is fed into anapparatus which applies the wrapping material to an article to bewrapped (and may apply a tear strip), effects severance of apredetermined length of wrapping material, folds the wrapping materialround the article to be wrapped, and ejects the wrapped article onto aconveyor or like means.

In an apparatus of this type, the wrapping material may be cut intopredetermined strips or lengths on a combined application and severanceconveyor and then ejected together with an article to be wrapped toinitiate the wrapping thereof by forming the strip into a U-shapedformation around the article and then depositing the article and theU-shaped strip into a guide path leading through a so called folder boxwhere the wrapping of the article is completed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improvedapparatus of this character which occupies a minimum of floor space andis particularly suitable for the wrapping of articles having delicate orrecessed ends.

According to the present invention there is provided a method ofwrapping or packing articles which comprises the steps of introducing anarticle into a chamber in a conveyor, the said chamber having an openingwhich exposes a surface of the article therein; leading material forwrapping the article onto the conveyor ahead of the article to bewrapped; retaining the wrapping material in contact with the conveyorWhile moving the conveyor from a feed station at which it receives thearticle to an ejection station, the wrapping material being drawn overthe exposed surface of the article during such movement; severing thewrapping material at a position between the feed ejection stations toprovide a length of wrapping material sufiicient to wrap the article;ejecting the article from the conveyor at the ejection station so thatthe wrapping material extends not only along the said exposed surface ofthe article but also in a U-formation over the end surfaces in front ofand behind the said exposed surface, there being also additionalmaterial not in contact with any of the said surfaces; and folding theadditional material to complete the wrapping. The article can be ejectedagainst the tension of the wrapping material which is severed after thearticle has been ejected.

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Alternatively, the wrapping material can be severed before the articleis ejected.

According to another aspect of the invention, an apparatus for wrappingor packing articles comprises a conveyor provided with an internalchamber adapted to receive an article to be wrapped, the said chamberbeing open to the surface of the conveyor; means for moving the conveyorto position the chamber first at a feed station and then at an ejectionstation; means for inserting an article to be wrapped into the chamberwhen at the feed station, the inserted article having a surface exposedby the opening in the chamber; means for feeding wrapping material tothe surface of the conveyor; means for holding the wrapping material onthe surface of the conveyor whereby movement of the conveyor towards theejection station will draw the wrapping material over the surface of theconveyor and over the exposed surface of the article being moved fromthe feed station to the ejection station; means for ejecting the articlefrom the chamber at the ejection station whereby material is drawnaround the exposed surface and adjacent surfaces of the article so as toprovide a partly wrapped article; means for severing the wrappingmaterial at a position between the feed station and the ejectionstation; and means for advancing the partly wrapped article ejected fromthe conveyor to complete the Wrapping of the article. If desired, theapparatus may have clamping means inside the conveyor; clamping meansoutside the conveyor; means for closing both clamping means onto thearticle to be wrapped in the chamber at the ejection station, and, meansfor moving the clamping means, while still closed, to remove the saidarticle from the ejection station.

In the accompanying drawings are diagrams illustrating the working of anapparatus according to the invention.

FIGURES 1 to 5 inclusive illustrate various stages in the formation of awrapping around an article in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention and,

FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate two stages in the formation of a packageaccording to another embodiment of the invention.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 1 to 5 wrapping material, whichmay conveniently be a film W of regenerated cellulose or of suitableplastics material, is fed from a spool (not shown) to a severanceconveyor 1 via a series of draw IOllfill' 2 and guide rollers 3. Ifdesired, a tear strip T can be applied to the material W before itarrives at the draw rollers 2. For convenience of description, thewrapping material is hereinafter referred to as film. The film and thetear tape pass through a clamping device 4 before they arrive at aseverance conveyor 1.

The severance conveyor 1 is a cylindrical drum which is intermittentlyrotatable .about a horizontal axis. The drum 1 is provided with aplurality of rows of suction ports (not shown) arranged to extendtransversely across the cylindrical surface of the drum. Suction isapplied to these ports from the inside of the drum by way of suctionconnections 5. The suction applied through the ports serves to hold thefilm on the surface of the drum so that as the drum rotates film ispulled from a source of supply and lies on the surface of the drum. Thedrum 1 has a pair of diametrically opposed chambers 6 each of which isadapted to receive a rectangular article to be wrapped. The drum isarranged to stop each time it has rotated through a distance of When thedrum stops, the two chambers 6 are one above the other. The top chamberis then at a receiving station and the bottom chamber is then at anejection station. An arcuate guide 7 is arranged adjacent thecylindrical surface of the drum between the two stations. Asubstantially rectangular article A to be wrapped is advanced into thechamber 6 at the receiving station from a feed conveyor. The article is.advanced into the chamber by a feed pusher 8. When the article is fullyinserted in the chamber, the feed pusher 8 returns to its startingposition and the drum is rotated through 180. As the drum rotates, filmis drawn over the cylindrical surface of the drum so that the openinginto the chamber is covered by the film, i.e. the film extends over theouter or exposed surface of the article in the chamber 6. When the drum1 has completed such rotation i.e. when the chamber into which thearticle has moved from the upper or receiving station to the bottom orejection station, the drum is stopped. At this point, an ejection deviceinside the drum presses against the article in the chamber to eject thearticle from beneath the drum as shown in FIGURE 2. In so doing, aU-shaped strip of material will be formed round the article the base ofthe U being the portion of material contacted with the exposed surfaceof the article during the rotation of the drum and the arms of the Uextending along and above the adjacent surfaces of the article. Acutting device 9 then acts to sever the portion of material on the drum.

In so doing the knife enters a slot 10 in the drum. It will thus be seenthat the article is ejected against the tension of the wrappingmaterial. The knife 9 is so positioned that when it cuts the film, alength of material is left behind the article at the receiving stationand a further length of material will be left on the conveyor to form aportion ahead of the next article to be advanced to the feeding station.

After the film has been cut by the knife 9 the trailing portion ofmaterial so produced is folded over the top of the ejected article byany suitable folding device not shown. The partially wrapped package isthen advanced by a pusher device (not shown) into a folder box in whichthe wrapping of the article is completed. The completely wrappedarticles can then be removed on any suitable conveyor (not shown).

FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate a slightly modified method and apparatus. Inthis modification, when an article A arrives at the ejection station, aclamp 11 inside the drum closes onto the article A at the ejectionstation. A second clamp 12 outside the drum also rises to close onto theexposed surface of the article thereby clamping the portion of filmextending over the exposed surface onto the article A. The cuttingdevice 9 then operates to sever the film. When this has taken place, thearticle is lowered from the drum while still held between the clamps .11and 12.

It will be appreciated that in this embodiment the film around thearticle being ejected is not under tension. With this embodiment, theportion of film in front of the ejected article is longer than theportion of material behind the ejected article. It will be seen that inthe arrangement of FIGURES l to 5 the leading portion of material isshorter than the trailing portion. When the article has been loweredfrom the drum as shown in FIG. 7, a flap folder which is not shown inthe drawings is advanced towards the trailing end of the article to foldthe trailing flap around the trailing end of the article and over partof what is now the upper surface of the article. During this process,the film is held in tension by suction means applied to the film throughthe trailing flap folder and the upper part of the leading flap folder.The upper clamp 11 then rises to return to the interior of the drum.

A pusher device which is not shown on the drawings follows behind theflap folder and pushes the article off the lower clamp and throughguides 13 arranged to fold the leading portion of the film round thefront end and front upper surface of the article. The leading andtrailing portions of the film now on the upper surface of the articleare arranged to overlap. The overlapping portions of the film are thenheat sealed together. The drum is then ready for the next cycle ofoperation.

As each partially wrapped package is advanced by the pusher mechanismfrom the lower clamp 12, it pushes against the partly wrapped packageformed by the previous cycle of operation of the machine. As this partlyformed package advances it passes through a device for folding film downonto the sides of the package and for heat sealing the film so foldedonto the sides of the package. Although in this embodiment the scalingis effected under heat, it will be appreciated that other methods ofsealing can be employed.

It will be appreciated that the invention can be used not only toprovide a wrapping in which Wrapping material extends over all thesurfaces of an article, but can also be used to provide a wrapping whichextends in the form of a sleeve over only some surfaces of the article.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wrapping or packaging articles, comprising aconveyor provided with an internal chamber adapted to receive an articleto be wrapped, the said chamber being open to the surface of theconveyor; means for moving the conveyor to position the chamber first ata feed station and then at an ejection station; means for inserting anarticle to be wrapped into the chamber when at the feed station, theinserted article having a surface exposed by the opening in the chamber;means for feed ing wrapping material to the surface of the conveyor;means for engaging at least a section of said wrapping material andpermitting the longitudinal movement thereof upon the application of apredetermined longitudinal force thereto for holding the wrappingmaterial on the surface of the conveyor whereby movement of the conveyortowards the ejection station will draw the Wrapping material over thesurface of the conveyor and over the exposed surface of the articlebeing moved from the feed station to the ejection station; and meansinitially actuated while said holding means is in holding engagementwith at least sections of said wrapping material forward and rearward ofsaid chamber for ejecting the article from the chamber at the ejectionstation whereby material is drawn around the exposed surface of thearticle so as to provide a partly wrapped article; means for severingthe wrapping material at a position between the feed station and theejection station; and means for advancing the partly wrapped articleejected from the conveyor to complete the wrapping of the article.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a clamping memberinside the conveyor; a clamping member outside the conveyor; means forclosing the clamping a members onto the article to be wrapped when thechamber is at the ejection station; and means for moving the clampingmembers still closed, to remove the said article from the chamber whilstat the ejection station.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein a drumlike conveyor isintermittently rotatable and has two internal chambers for receivingarticles to be wrapped, the said chambers being diametrically opposed toeach other and being opened at the peripheral surface of the drum.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 having means 0 for applying a teartape or strip to the wrapping material before it contacts the article tobe wrapped.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,035,379 5/1962 Cloots 531-389 X3,075,325 1/1963 Liedtke 53389 X 1,703,043 2/1929 Kronqvist 53-209 X1,964,411 6/1934 Beutel 53234 2,653,430 9/1953 Vogt 5334 3,119,2111/1964 Gagg 5314 3,338,026 8/1967 Billi 53209 X THERON E. CONDON,Primary Examiner.

NEIL ABRAMS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

